Tyranids: 9th Edition Codex Review- Adaptive Physiology and Psychic Powers

Hey everyone, Danny from TFG Radio here, and well, I had to audible a bit today as well, as I continue to pour and pour over the brand new 9th Edition codex, I realized that the Stratagems will have to have their very own article. Mea Culpa and all that, but hey, the new Adaptive Physiology and updated Hive Mind discipline are full of fun combinations for harvesting biomass. As always, be sure to order whatever you need from Frontline’s ever reliable webstore, and also check out the Secondhand Shop for sweet deals on bugs (I just snagged a few extra Warriors)!

There was a time in the 8th edition codex when there were really only two Tyranid powers, Catalyst and Onslaught. Paroxysm and the Horror were very much afterthoughts, and yes, Psychic Scream was there, but really, despite having a ton of psykers, there wasn’t always that much to do. Well, most of our powers are still here, but there have been some revamps, and thankfully, what was good, is still good. Let’s dive in!

Catalyst

Blessing. Warp Charge 6.  Select one friendly unit within Synaptic Link range. If target is Titanic, they ignore wounds on a 6+.  If the target is not Titanic, they ignore wounds on a 5+.

Catalyst has been a staple of the Tyranid strategy for quite some time, and well, that isn’t going anywhere now.  The ability to essentially make a unit 33% more durable is amazing, and this has a lot of plays depending on your army build. A big unit of Hormagaunts or Termagants with Catalyst up (and their new shiny 5+ armor save) with a Venomthrope nearby can suddenly be hard to shift, especially if you have the Zoanthropes Synaptic Imperative up for a 5++ save.  This is a great spell for a unit of Hormies that are being charged up the board as once they hit, your opponent has to clear them to move forward, but if they can’t, suddenly they have lost even more momentum while your other threats are coming the next turn.  If a big unit of Termies is camping an objective, boom, now they are harder to shift. 

Of course, you can throw this on a key Monster that needs to live like a Tyrant or Tervigon, and between the invulnerable saves and T8, it can be mighty, mighty hard to bring that down.  You can also use this to mess with enemy Target Priority as you can throw Catalyst on one big threat while putting another buff somewhere else, forcing the opponent to decide if it is worth shooting the Catalyst unit or the other unit that is maybe loaded up for other fun. Any time you can force a hard choice on an opponent is a time where the odds of a misplay go way up.

Whether as a defensive power to boost survivability or an offensive power to make a forward threat more durable and thus more damaging, Catalyst is a grade A power that should appear in every list (with redundancy of psykers as well).  

The Horror

Malediction. Warp Charge 5.  Select one enemy unit within Synaptic Link range or 24″ of the Caster. Until next psychic phase, that enemy units suffers -2 Leadership and -1 to Combat Attrition Tests.

This is an interesting spell that can combo off with some GSC powers, but overall, it lacks the wide ranging utility of other spells.  One big advantage it has is the rather large radius as between Synaptic Link (which can almost cover a board if you have the Synapse creatures) and the 24″ of the Caster spell that also doesn’t require Line of Sight, you can very much choose who is going to get hit.  This is solid, but then, leadership shenanigans are always fun on paper, but when going against a lot of armies that either don’t care about morale or have numerous ways to counter morale issues, this power really loses its luster.   In certain matchups, it can be awesome, but this is a very corner case power that isn’t a priority at all unless you are playing a heavy, heavy psychic list and have the room for it. 

Neuroparasite

Witchfire. Warp Charge 7.  Select one enemy unit within Synaptic Link Range or within 18″ of the Caster. Roll 1 d6 for every model in that: for every roll that exceeds the Target’s Toughness value, the target takes 1 Mortal Wound (to a max of 6).  

This is a new power, and it is awesome.  While it has a bit less utility than a standard Witchfire, meaning that it is mostly useless against single model Units or Units with high Toughness like Custodes/Warriors/etc, it provides the opportunity for a lot of damage, especially against a horde.  This is custom made to help tackle AM, Orks, and other Tyranids, but even against big squads of say Black Templars or such, it can still push through some Mortal Wounds.  Especially when fired off from say a squad of Zoanthropes with their extra bonus to both casting and mortals, you can get some surprising damage out of this for a single Witchfire, and well, there is still another Witchfire that you can launch as well as the usual Smites. 

Tyranids having essentially 2 bespoke Witchfires to throw out besides Smite really helps up the damage output in the psychic phase.  You could even get cheeky and throw in a GSC detachment for a psychic based list that isn’t relying on the Maleceptor bomb, throwing out all sorts of Witchfires and Smites.   One key thing to notice is that Neuroparasite is free from the usual targeting restrictions, meaning you can start slapping Units with this regardless of whether the psyker can see them (as long as you can get the target into Synaptic Link range). This means that if you have the fast moving Synapse creatures to do it, you can tag Units camping an objective and hiding, doing some decent damage, or even get big blobs that are behind the main line to avoid early game damage.  This is a whole new level of flexibility than Smite and Scream don’t have. 

Overall, this is a solid, solid spell that is worth having, maybe not with redundancy, but if playing a psychic list, then yes, probably with redundancy.  

Onslaught

Blessing. Warp Charge 6. Select one friendly unit within Synaptic Link range.  It gains: No penalty for assualting and shooting with assault weapons. No penalty for moving and shooting with Heavy weapons.  The unit may advance and charge in the same turn.

Speaking of another tried and true classic, Onslaught is still here, still money, and still gives Tyranids some first turn charges.  It is hard to overstate how central this power is to a lot of combinations within Tyranids.  Advance and Charge is an exceptionally powerful ability, and Tyranids actually have nothing with it inherently anymore, but at least for one turn, we can make any one unit do so.  It certainly isn’t ideal that so much of our strategy can rely on getting a power off as any army with a 4+ to deny Stratagem or similar can really, really ruin plans, but there is also huge utility in the fact that you can make ANY unit in the army suddenly get up and go.  Your opponent cannot focus fire one fast threat down because well, any of our units can suddenly be that fast threat.  

There are simply too many combinations to go over here, but in general, you can use this to make 2 units of Hormies cross the board and get into the enemy deployment zone a turn or combo one unit of Hormies with another threat of a different flavor. Anything with a 12″ base move is also money like Barbed Hierodules, Dimachaerons, and Raveners. In Turn 2 or later, you can also toss this on a big unit of Warriors who can advance, blast with no penalty (also can be useful for triggering Shard Lure) and then charge into the enemy.  Winged Hive Tyrants also make great use of this as with their amazing base movement of 16, adding an extra d6 and then 2d6 for the charge can give them crazy threat ranges, allowing you to even deploy them on the board behind Obscuring Terrain and then they bounce them over right into the fight. Especially with how mean Flyrants can be in melee thanks to Relics like the Reaper of Obliterax or Maw-Claws, you can do some surprising damage right from the start.  

Onslaught is another must have, goes in just about every list, power, and you definitely want redundancy with either two casters with it or even three, depending on your list.  

Paroxysm

Malediction. Warp Charge 7.  Select an enemy within Synaptic Link range or 18″ of the caster.  The enemy unit cannot fire Overwatch or Set to Defend and when it makes melee attacks, they take a -1 penalty to their Wound rolls.  

This power can be slightly corner case, but really, it has a ton of utility thanks to the ability to blunt incoming damage.  There are several ways to really maximize what Paroxysm can do, and it depends what your list wants to do and what your opponent wants to do.  First, obviously turning off Overwatch on a unit can absolutely swing the game as with the new Balance Datasheet out, you may see big units of Salamander Flamer-Aggressors again, and being able to tell them to take a hike when it comes to Overwatch means that you can actually charge them without getting massacred.  Turning off Overwatch on a big Crisis team or Broadside unit is again money, so throwing up a sacrificial Synapse Creature to get them into Synaptic Link is going to be worth it more times than not.  Making sure as many Hormies get into combat as possible is the key to their damage output, so saving a good chunk of them from eating Overwatch certainly helps.  

On the flip side, the -1 to wound is huge on a lot of units, so if you know that you are going to take a charge next turn (part of the game is piece trading after all), hindering a threat that pumps out a lot of attacks can mean your screen or objective holders are going to stay there (especially if they have Catalyst up as well).  Again, with Armor of Contempt a thing, you may see more Primaris bodies on the table that can throw out a lot of attacks that tend to shred Gants, but when they have -1 to wound, suddenly the math isn’t as much in their favor as before.  Sometimes you know that you are going to get hit, so might as well take some of the iron out of it.  This even works on say a Knight, so giving it -1 to wound can mean that it can’t stomp or sweep through so much as it wants.  If piece-trading a big melee threat like a Haruspex or such, putting a -1 to wound on a Knight can mean that unless it has a big fist, it is suddenly wounding on 4s, which can mean that the big bug survives.

A strong, solid debuff that has a lot of utility, so it should be at least on one psyker per game.  

Psychic Scream

Witchfire. Warp Charge 5. Select closest enemy unit within 18″ of the caster. They take d3 Mortal Wounds, and if the target was a psyker and the roll was greater than the target’s Leadership, the target loses one random psychic power for the rest of the game. 

There is nothing wrong with a standard Witchfire, especially one with a tasty bonus on the right targets (like Greater Daemons not of Khorne, Primarchs, etc).  An extra d3 mortals can be the difference between a Unit that will survive a round of shooting and a unit that won’t, but don’t forget that Zoanthropes exist, so you can get this up to d3+3 pretty easily.  That’s really who wants to cast this power as a big unit of Zoans love a Witchfire.  If desperate, someone else who has a better target can do it, but really, you want this for your Zoanthropes to leverage their innate boost to Mortal Wounds.  Pretty much every Nid army is going to take at least a minimum unit of Zoans to get access to their Synaptic Imperative, so might as well throw this on them as well.  Smite is usually best for Zoans’ one cast as with their bonuses, you can Super Smite consistently, but sometimes they don’t have a great target, and you may not want to increase the cost of Smite for another unit with a better target, so this can fill in nicely.  For 1 CP, you can also have a unit cast both Smite and Scream for some really juicy damage. 

You can also go with the Gunboat style Flyrant with a Heavy Venom Cannon or even the relic Stranglethorn cannon, and with two casts, a Smite and a Scream can be some good overall damage between psychic and guns, all on a model that has a ton of mobility to line up good targets. 

The only real downside to this power is that it is constricted in who it can target, and unlike Smite, you can’t spam it.  It also cannot Super-Smite, so the only advantage to rolling high is if hitting a psyker, which can absolutely be great, but most of the time, it isn’t relevant.  Still, an extra d3 Mortal Wounds a turn is certainly not bad at all.  

A solid, relaible power that should definitely go on someone.

Adaptive Physiologies:

So before I start, it is worth pointing out a conflict in the codex.  In one section, Adaptive Physiologies are specified as only for non-Character, Non-Titanic Monsters while in another section, it specifies Named Characters and Titanic Monsters as restricted.  With this in mind, the below is generally written from the perspective that like Adaptive Physiology from Warzone Octarius, these are meant for Monsters like Hive Tyrants and Trygon Primes, but not Named Characters like Swarmlord or Old One Eye. Should GW FAQ this to mean that yes, characters like Hive Tyrants and Tervigons are restricted, this will certainly be amended. 

Dermic Symbiosis:

This model has a 4++ Invulnerable save.

While not as strong as it once was, this is still a great upgrade that can radically increase survivability on a lot of Bugs.  A 4++ means that (unless going against Rail Guns), you just ignore half of all the wounds your opponent manages against you, and when you stack that with T8 that makes a lot of weapons wound on 4s or worse, that is even extra juice.  You really want to this on something worth the investment to protect it like Tervigons, Heirodules, or even a Dimachaeron (especially with how expensive they are now).  Granted, 25 points is expensive, but if you are building around a very large, very important piece, this can be essential.  

With Zoanthropes’ Synaptic Link, it maybe isn’t as auto-take as before, but it still has plays.  Especially if you are doing something like the unstoppable Tank Tervigon, this is essential or even a Tyrannofex out of a Spore that gets right into the scrum and stands there blasting.  If you are building around either an Anvil style Monster that is going to get into the fight and try to stay there for as long as possible or trying to keep a Tervigon (or Trygon Prime) alive, then this can certainly be worth the points. In Behemoth, the mortal wound engine Yo-Yo Trygon Prime definitely likes having an Invulnerable save to be able to survive long enough to burrow back to safety. 

A solid choice but 25 points can be a bit hard to find in a list.

Enraged Reserves

This model counts as double wounds remaining for the purposes of tiers, and once per battle, it may use an Epic Deed Stratagem for free. 

This is an interesting Adaptive Physiology that can be used to great effect in several ways.  First, you can lean into the degrading profile ability, keeping some big bugs that like to scrum at full efficiency longer.  Barbed Hierodules like this as they want to keep shooting, and having them have to suffer most of their wounds before losing any BS makes them pretty reliable, especially if you can park them in cover to get the most out of that 2+ armor save.  You can also throw this on either a Trygon Prime or a Maleceptor, both bugs that really do work when at their top profile.  This is especially true if going to do a Maleceptor bomb where you are relying on their aura to pump out some serious Mortal Wounds.  Making sure that they are doing the maximum number each time is key, and also, the free Epic Deed means that they can cast an extra spell without spending a CP.  Another tactic with the Maleceptor as it is a Horned Chitin unit, you can use Trampling Charge to get the Maleceptor to do some big damage on the charge and also get it deeper into enemy lines, meaning if they don’t kill it (which can be hard with that T7 and 4++, especially if you threw Catalyst on it), it is going to catch a lot of choice targets in its range.  On a Trygon Prime, this is really for a free Death Frenzy.  It can also work on a Tryant as a Tyrant certainly can use an extra cast, has the Horned Chitin keyword for the charge, and wants to ride that BS/WS 2+ for as long as possible, so that is certainly an option as well. 

This really is most optimal on a Maleceptor, but it can make a Trygon Prime an even bigger threat, and while it is 25 points, essentially getting a free CP with it can be worth it for that alone. 

Hardened Biology:

This models gains +1 to its armor save against Damage 1 weapons. 

Now that Tyranids have a considerable amount of 2+ armor saves, this definitely can do work.  For 15 points, it is also not as pricey an upgrade, and it can help keep Tyrannofexes, Walking Tyrants, Exocrines, and Haruspexes that much tougher to take down.  Even on a 3+ save beast like a Flyant, this can help get you to a 2+ against small arms, but really, a fun choice is on a Carnifex or Thornback.  With their native -1 damage, now a lot more weapons are going to be damage 1, meaning you get that +1 to save, meaning that your Carni is going to save on 2+ unless being hit with -2, but if that Carnifex is also in cover, now you need -3 AP.  That is not too bad at all, and if you are doing an HVC Carnifex that wants to sit back and shoot, especially if getting Direct Guidance for that sweet +1 to hit, making it as tanky as possible for still inexpensive is fun.  

That said, there isn’t that much D1 shooting out there, but, this can do work in certain matchups, but I wouldn’t jump to it either. 

Precognitive Sensoria

This model fights first in melee.  

While not overly complex, this is a great upgrade for melee monsters like Haruspexes that want to get in and fight but also are not exactly the fastest out there.  Haruspexes can do some great work, but without Swarmlord’s old double move, it can be hard to get them to hit first, but with this upgrade, you can use them almost like a melee screen where they block key charge lanes, so your opponent has to go into them, but with fights first, it essentially means your opponent is only going to get one activation against the Haruspex before it gets to swing on the other chargers.   Especially if you survive past the initial Fight Phase, getting to go first when there are no other charges is sweet.   

You can also do this on a melee Walking Tyrant that has that sweet 2+/4++ profile, so taking it out in melee can be tricky either way, but with Always Strikes First, that can be a dangerous gamble depending on what is hitting it and when.  If nothing else, it helps cancel out Always Strikes Last, so if need be, you can interrupt with it.  

While solid, this is again not necessarily an auto-take as it really depends on what kind of list you are building, and in general, 20 points can be hard to dig out of a list.  

Predator Instincts 

This model can heroically intervene as if it was a character and can do so within 6″ (and move 6″) rather than 3″.

This is a fun one that can absolutely catch people off guard, especially again with slower melee threats like a Haruspex.  This really is one of the best choices for a Haruspex as you can use it as a charge denial piece where it stays near your critical pieces, and if your opponent charges in, it can swoop in and start whompin.   You can also do this with sort of a mixed formation where you can position a bunch of Gants around the Haruspex so if anyone tries to hit the little bugs, it has plenty of room to slide in and bop the offending target, and if they skew their charge to avoid this, then they are likely losing out an attacks due to positioning, and this can mean that the Gants don’t die.  

As this 15 points, you can also throw it on say a Screamer Killer who can essentially be a spoiler, walking behind your frontline, trying to bait people into charges and then coming in hot with those attacks.  Even though they can already heroically intervene, throwing this on a Walking Tyrant who can shoot and fight is interesting as the extended range means that it is walking up, if someone tries to drop down and get into some backfield, squishy targets near the Tyrant, it can HI over and put the smack down.

A fun Physiology, but you need to build to maximize it, and you may not really need it, but it can absolutely catch people off guard if you get savvy with it.

Synaptic Enhancement 

This model gains Synapse and Shadow in the Warp.

This is easily the best Adaptive Physiology out there.  One, it is the cheapest, only 10 simple points for a ton of value. Two, the Tyranid Codex is built on Synapse and Synaptic Link, so the more Synapse you bring, the better.  This is custom made for a fast moving monster like Harpies as it helps you ensure that your forward elements stay within Synaptic Link range, and it allows you to spread that net wider, meaning easier to catch units in debuffs like Paroxysm or make sure that you can cast buffs on far flung units that have rushed forward.  Making sure that you have fast, forward Synapse beacons is key, so taking a Monster that you are already going to use and getting it to be Synapse? Yes, please.  Especially on a Harpy who wants to shoot, making it Synapse means you get another vector to pop off Shard Lure.  This also combos really well with say Kronos who wants to catch psykers close, so having a super fast threat that can get up there and get the Deepest Shadow ready is sweet.  If doing a gunline or even a partial partial one, a Tyrannofex or Exocrine loves this as it can sit back with its big gat hunting armor while also being a pivotal backfield Synapse anchor, and with its 2+, T8 profile, it can certainly be hard to shift at range.

This can even work with Tyrannocytes as they can drop off a unit and then still be a little Synapse beacon deep in enemy territory.  Spending 10 points to get another Synapse creature really is just about as clutch as you can get, so you should generally always have 10 points set aside just for this, especially if taking a Harpy or Crone.

 Whipcoil Reflexes 

Whenever an enemy Falls Back from Engagement Range of this model, they take d3 mortal wounds on a 2+.

This is one Adaptive that I really want to like, but it is not the easiest to actually achieve.  Doing damage to units that Fall Back is great, but this means that you need to have a Monster that is going to get out there fast and catch some targets.  This can do work on a Dimachaeron or Scythed Hierodule as they have the base movement to be able to jump out and get some charges off with Onslaught.   A melee Flyrant can also do this well with its base move of 16″, so it can work, assuming the Monster is hitting units that it won’t kill flat out.  

The thing is, the extra d3 wounds isn’t really that important as it is unlikely to do enough damage to where the unit  Falling Back is now out of the game.  It can maybe snipe out a Character that survived a charge, but this is a corner case.  The problem with Whipcoils is that the damage is just not high enough to really matter, and again, most players are going to be fine taking d3 Mortal Wounds to make sure that they can shoot at whatever you sent forward.  

A fun idea, but rarely practical. 

Voracious Ammunition

One unit hit by this model’s ranged attacks takes an extra d3 Mortal Wounds on a 2+.  

This is a solid upgrade that helps upgun just about any monster.  Especially with so many multi-wound units out there, this can go great on on D2 or 3 weapons, making sure that you are maybe finishing off that partially wounded model in a big unit.  Exocrines make great use of this as again, spending 15 points to generally get an extra 1.5 wounds through is not at all bad, but it can also be really useful on a Tyrannofex with either Fleshborer Hive or Acid Spray. Especially with Acid Spray at D2, against 3 Wound infantry, this can make sure that if there is one model on 1 wound left, if you have another multi-damage shooting to throw at the unit, you can take out that wounded one as to not waste a more powerful shot later (nothing like having a model with 1 wound left absorb a Damage 3 shot).  

If you are taking some ranged bugs, this is just a solid upgrade, especially for only 15 points as again, it is adding about 1.5 wounds to any shooting activation, which is not at all bad.  

This is likely my number 2 choice as it has a low cost and just helps provide that extra bit of throughput to a big shooting threat.  

So there we have it, even more combinations and ideas to factor into list building. The 9th edition Codex is just a chonky tome with a ton to sift through, and as the weeks go on, I am sure we will find more and more exciting ways to wreak havoc on the table. It can be hard to come up with a list, not because there aren’t good options, but that there are simply too many options. With our new, stronger psychic tree and some interesting tek from Adaptive Physiology, the ability to customize a list beyond just what units you take is insane. I look forward to every game night to keep testing more and more combinations, but be sure to sound off with what you have found works. Remember that some big events are coming up like the Bay Area Open, so I am excited to see what happens there. Lastly, don’t forget to listen to TFG Radio as next episode (4/28ish), I’ll be giving away a Parasite, so tune in to find out how! As always, play games and be nice to each other.